Coin-controlled vending-machine.



R. D. SIMPSON.

COIN CONTROLLED VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 22, I9I5.

1 ,201 ,884. Patented Oct. 17, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET R. D. SIMPSON.

COIN CONTROLLED VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 22, 1915. I 1,201,884. Patented Oct. 17,1916.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

R. D. SIMPSON.

COIN CONTROLLED VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 22. 1915.

Patented Oct. 17, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

ROBERT D. SIMPSON, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO.

COIN-CONTROLLED VENDING-MACHINE.

Application filed November 22, 1915.

chine, wherein are contained means for dispensing chewing gum, candy or other merchandise shaped to ball form; to provide means whereby one ball of gum or candy may be released and discharged from the machine as the result of the insertion of a penny and at the same time so construct my improved machine as to result in the release or discharge of either five, six or more balls as may be desired on the insertion of a five' cent piece.

Other objects of my invention will become more apparent after a further detailed description of the accompanying sheets of drawings, in which similar characters of reference designatecorresponding parts, and in which: i

Figure 1 is a central vertical sectional view on line ;I y of Fig. 3, the section, however, extending completely througlrthe machine, Fig. 2 is a plan view of the base of the machine with the coin and ball carrying means removed, Fig. 3 is a plan view of the base portionof the machine with the coin and ball carrying means shown in position. Fig. 4 isa vertical section of the lower portion of the machine on line a -m of Fig. I"), Fig. 5 is a detail view in elevation of the ball carrying ring, and, Fig. 6 is a similar view of the inner coin carrying disk.

In carrying out my invention, I employ a suitable flaring hollow base 1, which is pro vided in its upper portion with a partition plate 2 above which the base'nieinber is formed with a vertical extension '2 providing a substantially cup-like space above the partition The central portion of the partition 2 is formed with an upward projection'Q of frusto cone shape. From the un- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 17, 1916.

Serial No. 62,691.

communication with a circular outlet opening at in the partition plate 2, while the outer or remaining end of the channel 3 extends through an opening 5 to form a delivery cup 3. The partition plate '2 has formed therein-adjacent to the opening 4, a second circular opening 6, these openings being arranged in a circular path with respect to the base of the central frusto-cone projection 2 The partition 2 is also provided with two radial slots 7 and 8 on one side of'said projection, the inner ends of said slots extending into the inclined surface of the projection 2 and on the opposite side of said projection is arranged a third slot 9, the inner end of which stops at the base of the proj ection 2 This slot 9 may be referred to as thepenny slot and the slots 7 and 8 as the nickel slots. Adjacent to the slot 7, I pivot to the underside of the partition plate 2 one end of a stop strip 7. which stop strip may, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 of the drawing, be swung outward beneath the slot 7 to prevent a coin going therethrough or may be swung to a position parallel to said slot, leaving the slot open. At a point between the slots 7 and 9, I provide a horizontal rotary operating shaft 10 which is located beneath, the partition plate and has its inner end journaled in a downwardly extending lug 2 ofthe partition '2, while its outer portion is j ournaled in the base 1. through which it extends. the outer end of the shaft and on the inner end thereof is carried a projecting finger 11 which is shown more clearly in Fig. 4. There is also mounted on the shaft. 10, adjacent to the base wall a cam 12 which is in the form of a. disk provided with a peripheral recess 12. The finger 11 and the unrecessed portion of the cam 12 are adapted, by turning the shaft 10, to be projected slightly through openings 13 and let in the partition plate 2.

2.8 represents a bowed spring strip, the

a spring brake pressure against the upper side of said shaft. Seated within the cupshaped extension 2 of the base is a carrying ring 15, this carrying ring having formed in its marginal portion'a suitable number of vertical openings 16. The ring 15 is pro- A suitable head 11 is carried on are formed, as shown, between the openings 16..

Within the central opening of the ring 15 is seated upon the partition plate 2 about its central projection 2 a coin carrying disk 18, the latter being formed with radially arranged slotted openings 19, the number of which correspond with the number of openings 16 in the ring 15 and with the number of recesses 17 in said ring. That portion of the downwardly extending side wall 18*. of

' the disk 18 which is between each pair of slots 19, is formed with a downwardly extending tooth 18", these teeth being shown more clearly in Fig. 6 of the drawing, the

underside of each of said teeth being beveled, as shown.

The upper extension 2 of the base 1 is surmounted by a globe supporting ring 20 which has projecting inwardly from its marginal portion a fan shaped segment or arm 21, in the outer end portion of'which is formed a central opening 21*. Extending radially from a'point adjacent to the central opening 21 is a slot 21 within which fits and with which communicates the lower end of a substantially fiat coinchute or conduit 22. This coin chute which, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing, rises vertically from the slot 21 is in the nature of an elongated metallic strip folded centrally and longitudinally and is enlarged on its folding line to form a substantially tube shapedportion 22. Mounted upon the outer marginal portion of the ring plate 20 is the open end portion or base of a glass globe 23, the latter being held in place thereon through the medium of a rod or bolt 24 which is formed with a suitable disk-like head 25, said head covering the top opening of the globe 23 while the boltor rod2-1 passes downward through the rounded or tubular portion 22 of the coin conduit, thence through the opening 21 in the extremity of the segment 21 from which it passes downward through a central opening in the toothed disk 18 and through a central opening in the raised portion 2" of the partition plate 2. Beneath this partition plate, the threaded lower end of the rod 21 receives a suitable form of hand. operated nut 26. The rod head or bolt 25 has formed therein a slot 25 which communicates with the upper end of the coin conduit 22. On the underside of the pierced end of the segment 21, I form a depression about the opening 21 within which fits and bears the upper end of a short coil spring 27, the lower, end of which seats in a suitable depression in the upper side of the disk 18, this spring serving to exert a yield ing pressure on said disk and prevent upward displacement thereof. Formed through the marginal. portion of-the projection or segment 21 of the ring plate 20 is an open ing 29 which opening corresponds in size and is adapted to register with one of the openings 16 of the ring 15. This opening 29, which may be referred to hereafter as the feed'opening, is normally bridged or closed to prevent a candy or gum ball from passing therethrough, this bridging means consisting preferably of a triangular shaped wire member 30 which has its base portion pivoted to lugs 31 rising from the segment 21 adjacent to said opening 2!), said wire member bem normall I held over the o )enin 29 b 23 through the medium of a suitable spring 32 oneend of which engages the base of the wire member and the other end of whichmay engage the plate or segment 21.

The otherwise open bottom of the flaring base 1 is closed normally by a suitable bottom plate 33 one side of which has a projecting tongue 33 which is adapted to engage an opening 1 in the inclined side wall "of the base, While on the opposite side of said bottom plate is provided a lug 33", which projects through an opening 1 in the base 1, said projection having an opening 33 to receive the link of a suitable look.

In order to fill the globe 23 with candy or chewing gum balls, the base plate 33 is removed; the machine inverted and the balls fed downward through the opening 6 of the partition plate and thence through the opening 29 into the globe 23. In this operation, it will be understood that the spring closure or gate 30 is pressed downward to permit the insertion of the balls through said opening 29. The reservoir or globe being thus filled, the machine is turned to a position in which it rests upon the'base 1. The balls thus inserted into the globe, as described, are now supported upon the members 21, 15 and 18, one of said balls being engaged with each of the openings 16 of the member 15.

In order to illustrate the operation of my device, I will first assume that a customer desires to obtain only one of the chewing gum or candy balls. In order to operate the machine and release one ball, the customer inserts a penny into the opening 25 of the head of the rod 24, the penny passing down through the vertical conduit 22 thence through the slot 21 and into one of the disk slots 19 from which it projects into a registering slot 17 of the ring 15. The lengths of the slots 17 are such with respect to the diameter of the penny, that this inserted penny may ride on the base-portion of the 1 partition plate 2 instead of. on the inclined f surface of the cone portion 2". By now t rning the finger piece 11 of the shaft 10, the'lfinger 11 comes into engagement.- with 5 the.- .vertical sideof one of the teeth 18" on the 1 disk 18..-and since {the inserted penny forms" a clutch or lock betweenthe two members 15 and 18, these two members are caused to'move in a rotary path. The loca- 19 tion of the slot 9 in the partition plate 2 is such that the slots 17 and 19 will be directly opposite it when the operating shaft 10 has made one complete revolution and consequently the penny will be permitted to drop into the space formed by the base'plate 33.

This movement of the coin carrying member 18 and in turn the movement of the dispensing ring 15, will bring one of the dis pensing outlets 16 over the hole 4 in the partition plate 2 and consequently one of the balls will be permitted to escape. y

In order to prevent the "coin from being locked or wedged in its position between the members 15 and 18, have providedthe :5 cam 12.. This cam is mounted on the oper-' ating shaft 10 withrespect to the arm 11 in'the relative arrangement shown i n"Figs.- v 5 and 6, so that after the arm 11". has passed out of engagement with one of the depend- 80 ing teeth on the disk member 18, one of the teeth formed by the spaces 15 in the marginal portion of the dispensing ring 15' will have moved into the cut-out portion 12 of the cam 12. A slight further turn- :6 ing movement of the shaft 10 will bring the corner portion of the .cam into engagement with one of the side walls" of one of the teeth and will, therefore, give this dispensing ring a slight additional movement'in v order to give a little slack between the'two rings 15 and 18'and, therefore, the coin is given freedom of-movement to drop as soon as itreaches the properslot in the partition five of the balls, af'five centpiece or nickel is inserted in the manner prescribed for the penny, the .coin dropping into one of the slotted openings 19 "of the disk 18and proto jecting-into one ofthe recesses or slots 17 'ofthe dispensing ring 15,, thus locking'the ring and disk together. However, the length.

' of the recess or slot 17in the ring 15 with a respect-to the diameter of the nickel is's'uch that the lowermost portion of the nickel does not touch the upper surface of the par tition plate 2, but on the contrary it engages I the-inclined surface of the cone-promotion '2". 'lhe turning-ofthe shaft -10 will then bring the arm 11 into engagement with a tooth of the'coinfi'ing 18in the manner alreadydescribed andthe dispensing ring will also be turned as has already been described. However, since the nickel is' in contact with 6 the inclined surface of the cone projection Assuming now that "customer desires 2 it cannot pass through slot 9 in the partition plate 2 when directly above the same and, therefore, it is-possible for the operator to continue to turn the operating the outlet .'opening 1 Lin}thejpartition 2,

thereby dispensing five of the balls there- .through and deliveringthem into the discharge end of-the conduit 3.' 7

Should it ,be desired,however, to dispense six of' the balls forfive cents,instead of five,

it will be understood that the stop strip 7,

shown in Fig; 2 .of the drawing, may be swung on. its 'pivot'toapositionin theslotted opening 7-to preventthecoin-from passing throng-hand consequently this coin will be carried to the slotted opening-8 before it is discharged.

From the construction and operation which I have described, it will be understood that comparatively simple yet positive means are provided for securing the dis-v charge of a predetermined number of chewing gum or candy balls from the machine .and that the number of such balls delivered therefrom may be governed by the value of the coin inserted. In order to increase the number of balls to be delivered by the insertionpf a five cent coin, it is evident that it will only be necessary to provide coin outlet islets in addition .to those shown at I ,SlO tS'.

What I claim, is: I v 1. :In a vending machine, dispensing mech-. flanism, coin controlled mechanism for operating said dispensing mechanism, said coin controlled mechanism operating said dispensing mechanism to dispense a certain number of articles when receiving a coin of one value and a greaternumber of ar-- ticlesflwhen receiving a coin of greater value, --means whereby the number of articlesrdispensed .by the use. of a larger valued coin may be varied, and operating means for said coin controlled mechanism.

2. In a vending machine, a coin carrying member whose marginal portion is'formed with a radially arranged slot, a concentrically arranged ring member-formed with a. cooperating slot, said slots being arranged so that said two members are locked together by the insertion of a coin, operating means for turning one of said members, and ad- 7'and 8 and to close all but the last of these ditional means for causing a relative movement between said members at the end of the cycle of operation of said operating means to prevent the wedging of a' coin between them. i

3. In a vending machine, a coin carrying member Whose marginal portion is formed with a plurality of radially arranged slots, a concentrically arranged rin member formed with cooperating slots, said two sets of slots being arranged so that said two membersare lockedtogether by the insertion of a coin in anypair of slots, a partition plate beneath said members formed with a radially arranged slot through which an inserted coin may pass, operating means for turning one of said members, and additional means for causing a relative movement between said members at the end of the cycle of operation of said. operating means to prevent the wedging of a coin between them.

4. In a vending machine, a coin carrying member whose marginal portion is formed with a plurality of radially arranged slots, a concentrically arranged ring member formed with cooperating slots, said two sets of slots being arranged .so that said two members are locked together by the insertion of a coin in any pair of slots, a partition plate beneath said members formed with a radially arranged slot through which an inserted coin may pass,'operating means for turning one of said members, and addition'al means for slightly turning the other member after the turning of the first member has been completed to prevent the wedging of a coin between them.

I 5. In a vending machine, a coin carrying member whose marginal portion is formed with a plurality of radially arranged slots, a concentrically arranged ring member formed with cooperating slots, said two sets of slots being arranged so that said two members are locked together by the insertion of a coin in anypair of slots, a partition plate beneath said members formed with a plurality of radially arranged slots through which aninserted coin may pass, a centrally enlarged portion carried by the upper side of said partition plate, the arrangement of said enlarged portion with respect to the slots in said two members and the slots in the partition plate being such that a coin of one diameter' will passthrough the first partition plate slot while a coin of a different diameter will be .prevented from passing through the first reached slot but will pass through the next partition slot, and operating means for turn mg one of said members.

6. In a vending machine, a coin carrying member whose marginal portion is formed with a plurality of radially arranged slots, a concentrically arranged rin member formed with cooperating slots,'sa1d twosets of slots being arranged so that said two members are locked together by the insertion of a coin in any pair of slots, a partition plate beneath said-members formed with a plurality of radially arranged slots through which an inserted coin may pass, a centrally enlarged portion carried by the upper side of said partition plate, the arrangement of said enlarged portion with respect to the slots in said two members and the slots in the partition plate being such that a coin of one diameter will pass through the first partition plate slot, while a coin of a different diameter will be prevented from passing through the first reached slot but will passthrough the next partition slot, operating means for turning one of said members, and additional means for slightly turning the other member after the turning of the first member has been completed to prevent the wedging of a coin between them.

7. In a vending machine, a coin carrying member whose marginal portion is formed with a plurality of radially arranged slots, depending teeth carried by said member, a concentrically arranged ring member formed with cooperating slots, said two sets of slots being arrangedso that said two members are locked together by the insertion of a coin in any pair of slots, an operating shaft, and an outwardly extending arm carried by said shaft arranged to engage the depending teeth on said coin carrying member when said shaftis rotated.

8. In a vending machine, a coin carrying member whose marginal portion is formed with a plurality of radially arranged slots, depending teeth carried by said member,-a concentrically arranged ring member formed with cooperating slots, a set of teeth carried by said ring member, said two sets of slots being arranged so that said two members are locked together by the insertion of a coin in any pair of slots, an operating shaft, an arm, carried by said shaft arranged to engage the teeth of said coin carrying member to give it a partial turn eachtime said shaft is rotated, and a cam element on said shaft arranged to engage theteeth on said ring member each time said shaft is rotated, said cam being arranged to engage the teeth on said ring carrying member only after it has been given a partial turn by the turning of the coin carrying member and being further arranged to prevent the wedging of a coin between said two members.

9. In a vending machine, a coin carrying member whose marginalportion is provided with a plurality of radially arranged slots, a concentrically arranged ring member formed with cooperating slots, said two sets of slots being arranged so that said two members are locked together by the insertion of a coin in any pair of slots, a partition plate beneath saidmember formed with at least three radiallylarranged slots through which an inserted coin may pass, the arrangement of all of said'slots being such that a coin of one diameter will pass through the first partition plate slot while a coin of a difierent diameter will be prevented from passing through the first reached slot, but capable of passing through the succeeding slot, means rendered operable when desired to prevent the passage of any coin through the second. reached slot, and operating means" 1 0 v ROBERT D. SIMPSON.

Witnesses:

WALTER E. L. BooK, A. L. PHELPS. 

